Russell Allphin is serving an LDS Mission in Salta Argentina. This is a collection of his experiences and letters home.

Monday, January 30, 2012

¡Hurra por la intoxicación alimentaria!

Hello Hello,

Glad to hear all is well on the home front. That’s crazy that it’s snowing and all back in Utah. It is blazing hot here and I ‘m sweating a ton! It’s just so hot all the time! Yeah!

I ‘m not gonna lie, this wasn’t really a great week. We went to a member’s house to eat and the dad of the family (he looks like a turtle) just loves to egg on new missionaries. So he kept saying stupid things in Spanish to try and make me look stupid...and it worked. I just felt kind of down. I know the language takes time but, man, sometimes I really wish I could learn it all the sudden, you know.

We had an o.k. work week. Elder Rasmussen is the district leader so he does the baptism interviews so we went to do this interview with this guy who does nothing for a living, just bums around. I was waiting in this house while Elder Rasmussen did the interview. The house I was in was about 10 billion times worse than the stinky house you guys went to in Spanish Fork (except this house had a tin roof so was HOT and stinky) so I had that going for me, which was nice!

We had a baptism on Saturday night but then I got some kind of mean food poisoning from a nasty pizza. I was throwing up and had diarrhea all that night (hooray) so was confined to my bed all Sunday. And for no reason I got really homesick as well. It was just the worst combo to have--diavomithomsickorrhea. I was really down all Sunday and was still a little down earlier today but now my stomach feels kind of better and so does the homesickness.

It was so nice to hear from you guys today and to know you guys pray for me all the time. If you could pray for me to feel better I would really appreciate it. Sorry if this letter is kind of a downer, I don’t want it to sound bad but, truth be told, it just wasn’t really a fantastic week...

Some good things, though, are that I got the letter you sent me, Mom. You sent it to me a little bit before I went out of the MTC and It was so nice to hear from you.

I don’t know if I told you guys yet but there is a mountain right by us and this mountain is about 19,000 ft—you should see it, it’s huge!

And now to answer your questions:

Mom’s Questions:

Other than this week I have been well. Some weeks are really cool and then some weeks just really aren’t...cool.

I have stayed dry. We did have rain and we did get muddy but so far I haven’t had a dire need for boots as of yet but I ‘m staying dry.

The Spanish is coming along. Little by little. It’s frustrating at times but I’m trying not to stress about it.

I did get the Molly photo ha-ha-ha it’s brilliant! I’m glad to see the shampoo-horn tradition is being kept up. Yes, I can see the photos on the computer so keep sending them. But here is a heads up: A lot of the cybers here don’t accept usb input because people have viruses on usbs then infect the computers. So until I find I cyber that will accept usbs, I can’t upload photos, sorry.

Dad’s questions:

I played the guitar at one of our investigators houses and I played the charango at a member kid’s house...it was sooooo cool!

Yeah we cover the whole spectrum finding investigators. We clap doors, talk to people on the street, referrals—the whole shebang!

About our investigators: We have this lady named Griselda who is this really nice, sweet old lady that is ready to be baptized. We also have two investigators named Maxi and Nuella that are a young couple who are going to get baptized pretty quick here. We are also teaching a 10 year old kid named Jesus who is getting baptized pretty soon too. His family are all members and are so nice. It’s interesting that there are houses where you can really feel the spirit more than others. Jesus’ house is always really strong with the spirit. It’s easier to speak and to listen in his house cause it feels so nice. We’ve taught just about all the lessons and they are, at times, pretty easy to teach. I got to lead the lessons a few times and that was very cool. But yeah, if you want just pray for the investigators in general, that would be way cool of you guys.

I forgot to tell you guys: Last week we actually had a zone conference and it was all in Spanish so I had no clue what was going on much of the time but it was nice! I don’t know anybody in my zone yet but I’m making all the friends I can.

Have I eaten anything gross? Argentinians love their hard boiled eggs and put them in the most unnecessary of dishes (like salads and stuff) and you know how much I love eggs. But other than that we haven’t had any Andrew Zimmern-type foods.

We have a place called the "Comodin" it’s like the Wal-Mart of Jujuy...cept there is a guy whose only job is to chase dogs out of the store.

Well-well family, it’s been a blast talking to you guys. Sorry if I forgot anything. If you have any more questions, do ask. I do miss you guys a whole bunch but I know you guys are all good and that you’re all happy. I’m so thankful to have the greatest family on earth. I love you guys so much. Keep praying for me and, yes, I will for sure pray a lot as well—for everything. I love you It’s all good.